sanderling

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. A small shore bird (Crocethia alba) related to the sandpipers, having predominantly gray and white plumage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. A small wading bird, Calidris alba, that breeds in the Arctic and winters on sandy shores and estuaries around the world. A type of stint.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. A small gray and brown sandpiper (Calidris arenaria) very common on sandy beaches in America, Europe, and Asia. Called also curwillet, sand lark, stint, and ruddy plover.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. The three-toed sandpiper, or so-called ruddy plover, Calidris arenaria or Arenaria calidris, a small wading bird of the family Scolopacidæ, subfamily Scolopacinæ, and section Tringeæ, found on sandy beaches of all parts of the world.

Examples

When the tide is out a huge expanse of mud is left exposed on this flat landscape, giving the perfect opportunity for wading birds such as sanderling to feast themselves on the variety of marine invertebrates that call this mud home.

Vegetation scenarios derived from the HadCM2GSa1 model project that 76% of tundra bean goose (Anser fabalis rossicus/serrirostris) habitat will be affected by the alteration of tundra vegetation, while only 5% of sanderling habitat will be affected [28].

However, the sanderling, similar to many other high-arctic breeders, might be affected even more strongly, as southern tundra habitat types are projected to replace their specific high-arctic habitats.

Among the most abundant shorebirds in the slough are the western sandpiper, least sandpiper, marbled godwit, dowitchers, willet, American avocet, black-bellied plover, sanderling and long-billed curlew.